Who Are You If You Cannot Stand Up For What You Believe In?

It hurts

To hear what you believe in, being mocked and disrespected by the people around you.

It hurts

To see the values that during your whole life have guided your actions being challenged.

It hurts

Being in the middle of a crowd and feel a bitter loneliness, being able to count on no one but ourselves.

It's far worse than a punch in the stomach!

And beware, when I speak about beliefs, I'm not only referring to the religious ones. When we like someone, we believe they're important, if not for the rest of the world, at least for ourselves. When we put some effort in a project, we believe it can bring something good, something different, to the people around us.

In spite of that, how many times are we capable of fighting for what we believe in? If our beliefs are such an important piece of what defines oneself, shouldn't one be undoubtedly willing to defend them?"MOVE!" - a voice inside us screams - when we feel that something is not all right, that someone is crossing the limit between what's acceptable and what is not, by saying or doing something. "Do something! Say you don't agree, stop him from doing that, protect him, anything!!". Unfortunately, we are not always capable of externalizing what we feel is right. The fear for having other people judging us as crazy, or even the fear for out physical integrity, is terrible once it takes upon us. It can steal our reasoning, paralise any movement we might think of doing.Bad NewsOvercoming this fear is not always easy. There are situations in which it is extremely hard to do so.

Good newsOvercoming it is far from impossible! Below, I leave you with two examples where such a thing happened.

5. "It's like in the great
stories, Mr. (...) . The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger
they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the
end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad
had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even
darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine
out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant
something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr.
(...), I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances
of turning back, only they didn't. Because they were holding on to something...
There's some good in this world, Mr. (...). And it's
worth fighting for." Acredita que há algo de bom por que lutar, agarra-te a isso com todas as tuas forças, e a história da tua vida será como aquelas que realmente importam.6. You know, I look at you. I watch you. You're not a drunk. That's, that's real control. Control is power. That's power.Controlas o teu apetite - consegues partilhar a tua comida com os outros. Controlas o desejo de gastar dinheiro - tens a capacidade de poupá-lo para o que importa. Controlo não só significa poder, como poder para fazer o bem.

"Half the population's just waitin to see me fail / Yeah right, you're better off trying to freeze hell"The world will always have its naysayers and doubters. In your life, you’ve probably come across people who tell you that you can’t do something because you’re not smart, pretty/handsome, adventurous, or INSERT OTHER CHARACTERISTIC HERE, and they are waiting to see you prove them correct. Prove the naysayers and doubters wrong, use their negativity as fuel to light your fire. Fight on and succeed.

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7+1 Quotes You Identify With (Or Don't You?)

There are sentences with a voice of their own. And even if we don't want to, we might end up identifying ourselves with the message that's being transmitted. Some will whisper in our ears things we like to hear, others will warn us about some wise teaching we were missing.Here are some sentences I like, taken from some songs, books and movies. I leave you in charge of identifying the song, movie or book which I took the sentence from! Just leave a comment in the end.

Songs

1. If you never know truth, then you never know love.Do you know the truth about those who are dearest to you? Their qualities and defects, just as they are and not the way you would like them to be? Because if you don't, the question to make is a different one - are they that important to you?2. Could you close everyday without the glory and fame?What is it that incites you to jump off the bed every morning? Where do you get the motivation to do everything you do in your everyday life? Would you still do it the same way, in case no credit and recognition were given to you for such?3. Can't catch tomorrow, good shoes won't save you this timeNeither the greatest considerations will allow you to change the past, nor will good shoes allow you to catch tomorrow. Therefore, tie your shoelaces properly and occupy with what life has to offer you - today.

4. You can't start a fire without a sparkDon't expect to excel at something, if you are not willing to invest time in it and having to give up others. Don't expect the boy or girl of your dreams to come talk to you about how you feel for him/her. Fires won't start if we just think about them. Litting up a spark is our own and entire responsibility.Movies

5. "It's like in the great stories, Mr. (...) . The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. (...), I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. Because they were holding on to something... There's some good in this world, Mr. (...). And it's worth fighting for." Believe there's something really good worth fighting for, hold on to that with all your strength, and the story of your life will be such as the ones that really matter.6. You know, I look at you. I watch you. You're not a drunk. That's, that's real control. Control is power. That's power.You control your appetite - you can share your food with other. You control the wish of spending money - you have the ability to save it for what really matters. Control does not only mean power, as the to do GOOD.Books7. "In our days," continued Véra - mentioning 'our days' as people of limited intelligence are fond of doing, imagining that they have discovered and appraised the peculiarities of 'our days' and that human characteristics change with the times - ...How about this one? We should think twice before writing whatever be it about "our days" - we might not know so much about them as we think we do.

Khurram's choice (+1)

"Half the population's just waitin to see me fail / Yeah right, you're better off trying to freeze hell"The world will always have its naysayers and doubters. In your life, you’ve probably come across people who tell you that you can’t do something because you’re not smart, pretty/handsome, adventurous, or INSERT OTHER CHARACTERISTIC HERE, and they are waiting to see you prove them correct. Prove the naysayers and doubters wrong, use their negativity as fuel to light your fire. Fight on and succeed.

Hey, I'm from Pakistan. How about you?

The challenge was simple

Getting two people of different nationalities, who met a couple of weeks ago, to write a critical and objective text about the oeople of their own country. Two opinions on the human being who, after all, can be as different as greater is the distance which separates the places they live in. Have a look...

Ali Abdullah | 21 years old

University Student

Nationality: Pakistani

“Often when I meet people and say “I am from
Pakistan” – they get a bit of a shock. Perhaps it is my accent that throws them
off (I do not sound like a Pakistani), or perhaps it is simply the shock
embedded into their subconscious by the media – an extreme nation with an
extreme culture. Unfortunately, their opinions are not far from the truth,
except that they miss the positive that the world seldom sees or experiences.

Pakistan is a country built on culture –
though a lot has eroded as we take up western ideals, some sphere have remained
deeply embedded in our system. A Spanish girl was highlighting the plight of
her country and how people live with their parents till they are 30 due to lack
of opportunities – to her, that was a disgrace and one of a troubled individual
who had made nothing out of life. To me – it was life.

Most people will never understand how the concept
of the family works in Pakistan. Generations after generations are raised in
the same home. My grandfather’s house has already seen 4 generations. It is no
shame, nor disgrace, to live with your parents until you yourself are old;
instead, it is the foundation of a lovely atmosphere. When I told the Spanish
girl I had ever plan to live with my parents forever, she had no idea what I
was talking about – until I explained to her how my parent’s wellbeing and
safety came before my own priorities. This too was taken as too “different” to
understand, but with time, I think she got the idea.

We have very little concepts of welfare
homes for the elderly - the few that exists are charity homes; anyone sending
their parents there is a sign of extreme humiliation; both for the parents and
the children. We like to think of our culture as one that preserves the family
unit – the husband and wife are free to work, while the grandparents give a
helping hand towards raising the children in the old fashion, cultural way.
Something no school can give you. The extra attention that parents cannot
afford to give to their children themselves, is given by the rest of the family
– the uncles, the aunts, the cousins, everyone participates. Children grow up
with the proper love and care that no day care center can give. They get the
touch of family every-time they sit on the table. Grandparents never feel
useless or unneeded.

The system works around a simple concept
revolves around a simple ideology – “if your parents helped you take the first
steps in life, it’s only fair that you help them take their last”. People often
feel the cost of such communal living is their independence – but in some
cases, this is independence in its own way. I went to Christiana (the free town
in Denmark) and saw their culture – a small close-knit society of people
working together, helping each other, and strongly determined to keep it like
that. Their bonds were so strong that they were willing to risk their lives to
protect their system – at no point did it hold them back from living the lives
they wanted, the way they wanted. To me, the benefits of communal living far outweigh
the benefits of an entirely independent – but then, that’s me.

Miguel Bandeira | 19 years old Student

Nationality: Portuguese

“My approach to this question was a little more modest than Ali's, for I chose to point out the quality and flaw that i've seen the most amongst my people. Let's start with what we have that's good: Portuguese people are very tranquil! We are, indeed! We might get really upset before some nuisances, but our annoyance manifestations will rarely go beyond a good dose of gesticulation or unpleasant words spelled out loud. A clear example of what I've just stated is the Portuguese population reaction to the economical crisis we are going through. You don't hear news reports about serious social disorders. Not such as the ones which took place in Greece, for example. The typical Portuguese person likes to show their indignation before the world, no doubt about that - we have acquired a special practice in pointing the finger to the government and suggesting new courses of action. However, isn't it that way that things are supposed to be, when handled in a decent way?

But, as the old saying goes, there's a flip side to every coin. And when tranquility becomes laxity before life, we've got some problems. Which allows me to point out a terrible flaw of my people: we've got a tremendous lack of commitment notion! So let's try to understand what I mean by saying this. Basically, commitment is the way of assuming an obligation before someone and with some purpose.

Someone - it seems to me this is a point that some people miss when they assume a commitment: there's a person, with their own feelings, wishes and expectations on the other side of the relationship. When we say "I love you" or "count on me for everything you need!", we are assuming a commitment that might have a huge value for the other person. Breaking it might cost us nothing, but it will hurt somone...

Objective - whether we're talking about a birthday dinner, a work meeting, or any other type of social event, each one has its own objective. Which will be accomplished if, and sometimes only if, its intervenients make an effort so it happens... ON TIME! Punctuality is still a dream for many Portuguese people, a "caprice only German people care about", an innovative method of arriving to places which will only affect our society sometime around the XXII century... Until then, we can just relax...

“....
Now it's your turn! The window to leave your comment is right below this text.
I bet you don't think the same way about the countries we wrote on, and that you have a lot to say about your own country. Give it a try!

Having an (own) opinion but no time to build it

There are
people who neither have the patience to hear prof. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
speak in the portuguese national TV, nor care much about attending to conferences about
the characteristics of the portugese companies.

There are
people who don’t like to read the news and who would never save some of their
time to read a book about today’s world. Basically, not everyone likes having to do some work to form their own opinion on what’s going on all around. OK,
no stress about that – everyone has their own tastes and informing oneself
about actual events doesn’t have to be one of them. But then, what would John
(generic character who never showed any type of interest for paintings) say to
Mary (who loves painting and knows pretty much everything sbout it) when she
asks for his opinion on a painting that both are seeing? An answer like “I like
it very much, but can’t tell you much more about it” would suit him, given the
circumstances. But instead, John, who had yesterday read a critics to that very
painting, chose to make the critic author’s words his own. Smart guy, han? At
this point we can reach a conclusion:

Having
opinion on a subject matter is not at all like playing football! In football,
you can’t really convince a whole stadium audience that you are a good player
if you are not! In the world of opinions, things don’t work out that way. It’s
possible that one goes around saying whatever he wants on a subject of which he
knows little about, and yet cause others to think he knows much about it. It’s
a technique, no doubt about that, which only a few can master. Do you wanna know
how they do it? Here are three practices that, in my opinion, suit the people
who are well trained at this art:

Memorize
the pros’ opinions:

Such as I
wrote last week, hearing the ones who truly understand a certain subject matter
can be a really good way of building your own opinion. But on one condition:
you’ll have to think by yourself about what the other person said, being this
way able to add your personal touch to it – what you agree and disagree with. We don’t
learn if we hear someone speaking, with the only purpose of taking sentences for ourselves to repeat. Macaws can do the same!...

... and they are not that smart

Read ONLY
the news’ titles

This
technique is particularly effective when you talk to someone who, as soon as
they have something to fuss about, they will make extended monologues. John: “Yesterday
I was reading about the Greek economy [didn’t go further than the title], and found some interesting facts. Did you know they had to ask for a financial rescue from
ECB?” Mary: “That’s right! You know why, don’t you? It was obvious that after
so much time doing…., they could only have ended up like this”.The problems
will arise when John is asked to give a deeper opinion on what he “read”.

Read the
back cover of interesting books

It feels
good to me, and I believe this is a common feeling among those who like to
read, being able to comment on some book that I have already read when it is
mentioned in a conversation. But what, in my opinion, is pretty lame, is
saying whether a certain book is interesting or not just because of what it looked
like in the back cover. Even if it is extremely well written and makes up for a
good summary of the remainder pages, it will not be the same thing as reading
the whole book.

I’ll
conclude with a little thought on this topic: there’s nothing wrong about
knowing little of what is happening in the world, or not having your own opinion
on a so called key subject for today’s conversations. It’s precisely in
those areas where you have the opportunity to learn new things. Now, regarding
the use of these three practices that I’ve presented in this post, with the purpose of depicting an alleged
knowledge of reality, I say: “No, thank you!”

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International readers (if there's any): please give me feedbak if you are on that side :)I would like to know if it's worth start writing the posts in English as well!